title: Clinical Value of Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential in Assessing the Stage and Predicting the Hearing Results in Ménière's Disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our goal was to find the clinical value of cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) in Ménière's disease (MD) and to evaluate whether the VEMP results can be useful in assessing the stage of MD. Furthermore, we tried to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of VEMP in predicting hearing outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  The amplitude, peak latency and interaural amplitude difference (IAD) ratio were obtained using cervical VEMP. The VEMP results of MD were compared with those of normal subjects, and the MD stages were compared with the IAD ratio. Finally, the hearing changes were analyzed according to their VEMP results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In clinically definite unilateral MD (n=41), the prevalence of cervical VEMP abnormality in the IAD ratio was 34.1%. When compared with normal subjects (n=33), the VEMP profile of MD patients showed a low amplitude and a similar latency. The mean IAD ratio in MD was 23%, which was significantly different from that of normal subjects (P=0.01). As the stage increased, the IAD ratio significantly increased (P=0.09). After stratification by initial hearing level, stage I and II subjects (hearing threshold, 0-40 dB) with an abnormal IAD ratio showed a decrease in hearing over time compared to those with a normal IAD ratio (P=0.08).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  VEMP parameters have an important clinical role in MD. Especially, the IAD ratio can be used to assess the stage of MD. An abnormal IAD ratio may be used as a predictor of poor hearing outcomes in subjects with early stage MD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Min-Beom
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jeesun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Ga Young
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Yang-Sun
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Sung Hwa
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Won-Ho
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Chung
keywords: Hearing loss; Ménière's disease; Stage; Vertigo; Vestibular evoked myogenic potential